


Rematch

by certainlyAmbiguous



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Amicable Exes, Dating, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Matchmaking, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 04:11:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15833505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/certainlyAmbiguous/pseuds/certainlyAmbiguous
Summary: Sometimes a friend wants another friend to hook up with the strong blue horse boy of her dreams, and that's okay.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [voidofbreath (bmo)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmo/gifts).



> there's almost no jane/horuss on this entire site, and that's a crying shame.  
> 

“You know who else can’t be beat?!” Roxy cried, steering Jane toward the table where one of Dirk’s troll friends sat waiting, elbow on the table. “My bestie!” 

Jane could absolutely have muscled Roxy out of the way and absconded back to where she’d been sitting and nursing a drink, but the point of coming to this party in the first place was to get a little bit of human-- er, interpersonal-- interaction outside of her closest circle of friends! Granted, she had thought this party was going to be slightly more intimate of an affair, and practically everyone she knew was crammed into the living room of Roxy’s place, but still. In order to achieve goals, you have to move outside your comfort zone! So Jane kept her resolve. She wasn’t going to let herself get hung up on her own level of intimidation where there were friends to be won! Roxy’s level of faith in her didn’t hurt, either. 

The group of party goers around the kitchen table had gotten her interest in passing while she’d been sitting comfortably in an overstuffed chair in the living room. She’d stayed put while Jake had run off to check it out, content to scroll through Bubblr until she’d been blindsided by Roxy pulling her to her feet and aiming her in the same direction. Now she was sitting across from a troll with a high ponytail and a smile that was both broad and somewhat unsettling. She wasn’t sure if she found it unsettling because it was, or if it had something to do with the uncanniness of interacting with a sentient being of another species. 

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face to his chin. The place was pretty warm, so it made sense to her that he was sweating, but he also seemed to be wearing a thick jacket. 

“Are you okay under all those layers?” she asked, a little loud over the music and chattering of everyone around them. 

“I’m perfectly fine,” he replied, less shouting and more projecting his voice, “and furthermore, I am not going to lose. Just as a forewarning.” 

Jane gasped, indignantly. “Oh, it is _on_ , buster. You have no idea who you’re messing with.” 

She wished she had a sleeve or two to push up, maybe a hat to tip down in determination, but she was wearing a t-shirt, so some of the hardest eye contact she could make through his dark goggle-looking lenses would have to do. Jane planted her elbow on the table and clasped his hand. He did not make any effort to clasp hers, which threw her off a little. Was it some kind of trick? Some unknown arm wrestling strat to which she had never been privy? 

Jane couldn’t actually see his eyes, but she felt like he was watching her as Jake patted her on the shoulder encouragingly and as Roxy whooped and cheered nearby. Was he trying to throw her off her game? Jane felt confident that he wouldn’t succeed. 

“Nobody’s beat this bouy yet!” Meenah piped up from where she was leaning across the table to jostle Roxy’s friend Latula. Latula slapped a few bills into Meenah’s hand and the fuchsiablood moved on, counting what she had clutched in her hand and looking to collect more. 

Dirk, sat beside the troll whose arm Jane was preparing to wrestle, had a pen and a memo pad. He was apparently recording numbers, and didn’t bother to look up. “Nobody’s beat him but he ain’t won a single solitary match, either.” Dirk sounded contemplative. “Some arm wrestlers just want to watch the world burn.” 

“It isn’t my intention to rabble-rouse,” Horuss insisted, shaking his head. Roxy talked loudly over him, counting down with her hands placed gently over his fingers and Jane’s, clearly excited to see this particular match-up go down. 

“Five… four… threetwoone, get him Janey!” 

Light from the fridge someone had just opened glinted off of Jane’s glasses as she immediately went for the kill, still very confident that this would be over in the blink of an eye. She found, however, that her assumption had only made an ass out of her, as her opponent’s hand hardly wavered. She looked up at his face in confusion, and he only smiled back. 

“Don’t look him in the face, Jane, that’s how he did me in! He’ll get inside your head!” Jake cried. He tried to shake Jane by the shoulders in excitement as she doubled her effort, but only really managed to move himself back and forth. Jane was endeared and annoyed in equal measure by Jake’s excitement. He was a wonderful cheerleader, but he was being something of a distraction, here. 

Jane began to go red in the face in exertion while Roxy bounced and danced around, chanting “Go! Go! Go!” and punching into the air while others clapped along and offered their own encouragements. 

“Don’t screw this up for us, Horuss,” Meenah called, having taken note of the other troll’s’ hand losing a little traction. He’d clearly noticed it as well, if the faltering of his smile was any indication. For the first time since the match had begun, he appeared to look at her small hand clutching his. His brows furrowed when he took note that he had been moved, and laughed a little breathlessly. 

“You’ve got him on the ropes now!” Jake cried, and Jane grunted in acknowledgement before flashing Horuss a buck-toothed smile and leaned more aggressively into the fight. It was kind of cheaty, but Jane was sure there was some kind of trick going on that justified her use of excessive force! Horuss slowly moved his hand back into the upright position but did not continue past that point. Even so, a crack rang audibly through the room and the little group of onlookers fell silent as Roxy stilled. 

“Woah, woah, woah, hey! Time out! Game over! You guys are gonna break my table!” Roxy cried. She wasn’t wrong. When Jane lifted her arm to investigate, there was now a wide crack in the wood where her elbow had been. 

“Oh no! I can fix this! Or, I can get someone else to fix it--” Jane said quickly, reaching out with her free hand for her friend, as if her touch could be any more apologetic than her words. Jane’s strength could get the better of her from time to time, and she’d lost sight of that in her efforts to win. 

“Party foul,” Pyrope said in a sing song voice from off to the side, earning a snicker from someone else. 

Horuss, who was smiling a little bit smaller and a lotta bit sheepish, gently extricated his hand from Jane’s grip, an effective concession of the match. Meenah dragged a hand down her face but tried not to draw attention to the fact that it happened. Horuss immediately made sure to announce it, unconcerned about the loss of his winning streak. Or his not-losing streak, rather. 

“Let me. Unless Her Hayness disagrees, a portion of tonight’s--” He turned to look for Meenah, but she was nowhere to be found. Jane had watched her lass scamper right out of the kitchen before Horuss had opened his mouth. His ponytail swished prettily as he turned to look in the opposite direction for Dirk, who had also vanished. Jane hadn’t even seen him go! 

Horuss pressed his lips together in a straight line for a silent moment, and then straightened and returned his gaze to Roxy, his grin making a brilliant reappearance on his face. “Er… let _me_ replace the table, it wouldn’t cause me any trouble. It would be just as simple for me to find an aesthetically pleasing way to patch the damage, if you’ll allow.” 

“Oh, I’ll allow. I’m gonna put you to work for sure, don’t even worry about that. We’re done here for now, though! Everybody back off, I don’t want it to break any worse! Shoo!” Roxy flapped her hands at the trolls and humans sitting and standing nearby. Some skittered off back to the living room, while one pair moved to the breakfast nook, and a few others headed for the back door. Horuss on the other hand, had not moved. Not until Roxy started herding him away, directing him towards where Jane had abscond to in her haste to distance herself from the scene of the crime. “Bee tee dubz, have you properly met the stone cold _fox_ who just almost whipped your tail?” 

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that my tail had been in danger of whipping,” Horuss said, clutching his hands in front of himself and then moving them to behind his body when he seemed to think better of it. “And we have met, though not formally.” 

“Right, totally, because you’d have to be blind not to notice a beefcake betty like this one.” Roxy bumped Jane’s hip with hers, laughing, while Jane scratched lightly at the nape of her own neck. What was this about? “Russ, you should tell Janey about all that baller stuff you do for funsies. Like how you made your goggles, or them gloves! They’re kind of _bananas_. Anybody want drinks? I’m gonna get drinks.” 

Roxy turned away to go to the fridge, winking very obviously at Jane while Jane scrunched up her face reproachfully. 

“Wink,” Roxy said in a high pitched voice, just in case the message hadn’t gone through.

Jane scowled, but the little snort of laughter Roxy had gotten out of her had already blown her not-really-angry cover. Sure Jane had come here to mingle, but this was a little much, wasn’t it? She nudged her glasses up her nose before shaking her head slightly. It was nice of Roxy to try to get their conversation started, but she wasn’t particularly well versed on this subject. “Gloves…? I don’t know much about making accessories, but yours do look nice. You cut quite a striking figure! 

Horuss pressed his hand to his chest and smoothed the thick cloth of his jacket (was it even a jacket? Seeing Horuss standing, Jane thought it might be the upper half of a jumpsuit at this point). He let out an almost nervous sounding giggle as Roxy appeared again, setting two cans down on the counter Jane and Horuss stood beside. She then grinned and wiggled her fingers at them before heading for the living room, where the majority of the party people were congregating. “I’m gonna go circulate! Be good!” 

Jane picked up her soda but widened her eyes in question at Roxy, who lifted her shoulder and smiled over it at Jane in response before she disappeared into the crowd. 

“Thank you,” Horuss said, having gathered his thoughts. His grin had gone a tad crooked. “You also are very-- cutting.” 

“I’m sorry?” Jane, fingers curled loosely around her soda can looked over at Horuss, amused and confused. 

“You… your looks and manner of dressage are also striking, I mean.” Jane glanced down at what turned out to be a Faygo in her hand, and then leaned against the countertop as she smiled. She liked a compliment as much as the next person, but wondered if he wasn’t just saying it to be nice. Or because he was nervous. Her current mode of dress was fairly simple, Jane thought, and no one had ever complimented her while she was wearing a fanny pack. She tilted her head to the side, trying to puzzle him out. 

“Not just your looks, your strength is very impressive. I competed against six others, but none of them maneaged to move me in a way I did not allow. It’s exciting! I’m excited by the prospect of future arm wrestling matches with you.” 

His smile did seem a little less strained, and warmed Jane’s gave a small laugh herself. His enthusiasm was refreshing, cute even. She’d have thought he might feel bad about not being able to beat her, despite that it hadn’t really seemed like he was trying. Just how strong was this guy, anyway? “Well, from the looks of things, we’d break a table before either one of us won, so we’ll have to do it on a sturdier surface if we’re to have a repeat performance at all.” 

“I would be happy to do it wherever you wanted to do it.” 

Jane stared at Horuss for a long, silent moment while he grinned placidly back. 

“Are you getting fresh with me, mister?” she asked, crossing her arms. He tilted his chin high, which Jane had learned at some point was a troll version of putting their hands up. An ‘I surrender!’ kind of pose. She pursed her lips. 

“I am the least fresh I know how to be,” he insisted, but he was still smiling, so Jane kept squinting at him. A bead of sweat trickled down his throat and disappeared into the collar of his jacket, and Jane wondered if she was looking at him too closely, maybe. She cleared her throat, dismissing that thought and any thoughts that were related. 

“You and I can arm wrestle again after I’ve had a suitable training montage, I suppose,” she said, and uncrossed her arms to drink from her soda. It was a mistake, she found, as the drink was much too artificial and sticky sweet for her tastes. 

“A training montage, OMG!” Roxy cried, coming right back into the kitchen like she had been waiting for the opportunity to do so. 

“You two should totally train _together_. You could get sweet matching jogging pants with ‘Big Blue Babe’ or something on the butt! Actually I know somebody who could help with that, hold on--” and she was gone again before Jane or Horuss could comment on the subject. 

Jane looked back to Horuss with her eyebrows raised, prepared to apologize for Roxy’s over enthusiasm, but when she turned back to him his hands were clenched together in delight and he was smiling more broadly than before, which Jane hadn’t thought was possible. 

“I take it you’re interested in the idea?” 

“Oh, yes. I haven’t had a workout partner in far too long, and as I mentioned previously, your current level of ability is admirable. I would be honored if you’d deign to join me.” 

“I would be happy to deign!” That wasn’t how that word was used at all. “I’ll find out what my schedule will allow, and then I can… message you? Or call you if that’s the sort of thing you’re into.” 

He offered her his phone, which he’d decaptchalogued from what looked like a music box. There was even a little dancer in there! A dancer who appeared to be an anthropomorphic horse in a tutu. Jane hesitated, scrunching up her face slightly as her gaze shifted from the little horse person to Horuss and back, but ultimately she saved her handle to his contacts. After they finished going through the rigamarole of making sure each could call or text other if the spirit moved them, the two continued conversing until Dirk appeared to urge Jane away, citing numbers related business. 

Jane and Horuss said their goodbyes fairly quickly as the former was dragged from the kitchen. She glanced back over her shoulder before she turned the corner out of sight, and Horuss gave her a hesitant little wave and a very big smile.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a surprisingly short amount of time before Jane was in contact with Horuss again. He texted her a single emoji the next day, and since she was at work and had little time for idle chatter, she’d messaged him back in kind rather than with actual words. They texted back and forth like this off and on for the rest of the day, crafting difficult to decipher hieroglyphic messages, but Jane had a lot of fun. She called him as soon as she had the time, and they chatted about what they’d been doing while sending the texts and what they’d actually meant when they meant anything. Eventually, the pair set up a time and place for weight training together.

“You must put a great deal of effort into the manetenance of your strength,” Horuss commented on the day they met up. He'd come out of the locker rooms dressed in form fitting long sleeves and pants, which Jane found bewildering. He was much more muscular than his frame and his clothing choice on the night they’d met had let on, that was true, but Jane was mainly concerned about potential heatstroke. Could trolls get heatstroke?

“No, not really,” Jane replied, tying her short hair back into an itty bitty ponytail. He watched her as they walked to where they would be doing their warm-ups, gripping the towel slung over his shoulders with both hands. “I’m kind of just like that. It runs in my family.”

She noticed him looking at her, and he seemed to startle, and looked away, and then right back, seeming to have come instantly to the conclusion that he was being a little silly. Jane had never seen Horuss without dark lenses obscuring his eyes, and she smiled to see how dark and blue they were.

“I am the same,” he told her, “but I’ve found it is beneficial for both my health and moods to keep up the practice of regular exercise.”

It made sense to Jane that exercise could lift your spirits, and so after their warm ups, she threw everything she had into workout proper. Horuss seemed hesitant at first to give her very much in the way of weight to lift, but the two spent a frankly hilarious amount of time with Jane holding a weight in one or both hands with little to no effort, and Horuss running between her and the rack asking “How about this one?” each time.

By the time she had to put any real effort in, they’d progressed from free weights to drooping barbells, and Horuss seemed frankly delighted. More than usual, perhaps, given the way he gently bounced on his heels.

It became habitual for the two of them to meet three times a week to sweat together. The first few times, Horuss would contact Jane or vice versa to confirm that plans hadn’t changed, but eventually they fell into a comfortable pattern of meeting and getting down to business without so much ado. Jane was confused at length to find that her clothes no longer fit the same-- she hadn’t lost any weight. She had in fact _gained_ it, but as they talked about it at the gym’s pool during their cool down, Horuss informed her that it was because of a shift in her fat distribution and an increase in muscle mass.

“You sure know a lot about all this,” Jane commented, kicking her legs and gently floating by Horuss, who was seated at the edge of the pool.

He rarely swam with her, as he tended to sink like a rock, but he liked to keep her company. “I’ve done a fair bit of research about human anatomy and the consequences of strength training. It’s interesting the ways in which our bodies are alike, and even more interesting still the ways in which they differ.”

He kicked his feet very gently in the water, and only when Jane was nowhere near. His eyes glinted in the way that she’d seen cats’ do in the low light. That was a pretty distinct way in which their anatomies differed. She knew of at least one other, but shoved that thought right out of her mind almost as soon as it popped up. She swam by in the other direction, putting minimal effort into her strokes. “And here I am, never having even considered doing homework! Have you noticed any changes yourself?”

Horuss was quiet for long enough that Jane thought he had not heard her. She opened her mouth to ask again when he finally answered. “I’ve chiefly been keeping pace with you. I would have to work significantly harder for any physical changes to become apparent. What is weight training for you is light cardio for me.”

“So humble,” Jane laughed. The majority of her body disappeared under the water as she walked through the water to where Horuss sat, and propping herself up on the lip of the pool beside him. She laid her head on her folded arms and looked up at him while he looked down at her, watching her tread water. His face was blurry on account of her lack of glasses, but she could tell that the smile he typically wore was still firmly in place. He was so difficult to read. “Are you trying to imply that you think I still wouldn’t be able to best you if I put my mind to it?”

She hadn’t forgotten about the rematch. It was the whole point of this all, wasn’t it? Horuss carefully moved the hand nearest her into his lap and clasped his hands together. She found his body language painfully shy, and it was completely at odds with the way he talked, and even carried himself. He was so confusing. “I wasn’t making any implications. You could do whatever you liked to me.”

Case in point.

Jane had long since come to the conclusion that he just _talked like that_ , and made a big production of rolling her eyes when she got up and out of the pool and fetched her glasses from where they sat perched on Horuss’ forehead. He was teasing her maybe, and she really wished he wouldn’t.

“You’re going to let that clever mouth of yours get you in big trouble some day,” she informed him as she put her glasses on. She planted one hand on her hip.

Horuss did not respond. He only smiled vapidly up at her as she stared sternly back down. She thought about how dark and blue his eyes were, and not for the first time. She thought about how large and alien they were, and thickly they were lashed. Horuss was much more pretty than he was handsome, she thought. It just wasn’t as obvious when he was covering up those eyes.

Abruptly, Jane was hit with the desire to bend down and kiss him. She even moved slightly in his direction before her brain caught up with her. Her movements went a bit jerky as she tried to play it off, reaching toward Horuss instead, who sat statue still in anticipation of her touch. He always stiffened up when he thought she would be touching him, and why wouldn’t he, if he was so viscerally uninterested in her touch as that suggested? She stole the towel from around his neck at the last moment and ran off with it in the direction of the locker room.

“See you next time!” she called without looking back, viciously berating herself as she made her escape. Horuss silently watched her go.

 

* * *

 

“...and then I stole his toooowel,” Jane wailed, dropping her head down onto the patio table, covering it with her arms. She was such a fool. A gigantic fool! The biggest fool that ever fooled around!

“Damn, Janey, you shot right past crushing and into grand theft weirdo,” Roxy said. Her voice was sympathetic even if the words weren’t, and the way she petted Jane’s back soothed her some. “Do you rub your face in it at night?”

Okay, that part was much less soothing. It was also so dead on the nose that it felt like a slap in the face, and Jane felt her skin prickling with heat all over as she shrugged Roxy off and flapped a hand at her, sitting up and grabbing at her own hair. “What am I supposed to do!?”

“Just give back the dadgum towel,” Jake called from where stood at his little grill with laughter in his voice. He, Dirk, Jane and Roxy got together fairly frequently for lunch or dinner and it was Jake’s turn to do the cooking. He turned the chunky veggie kebabs over the fire and sipped from his beer, perfectly in his element, as far as cooking outside.

Jane had thought of returning the towel already, but the concept was so painfully awkward that she could only squeeze her eyes shut and groan while visualizing the scenario, flopping over sideways against Roxy. She felt like screaming.

“Anybody want a virgin mimosa?” Roxy asked pleasantly while Jane went into paroxysms beside her.

“Orange juice?” Dirk corrected flatly from across the table. He had his chin in his hand, and was either watching Jake’s back as he cooked, or peering at Jane while she carried on. It was difficult to tell behind his shades. “Are you offering us the orange juice you brought?”

“I said what I said, Mr. Smarty McSmartpants,” Roxy answered, sticking her tongue out at him. She popped open the cooler beside the table and produced the previously mentioned orange juice, a bottle of sparkling cider, and a half full bottle of candy red grenadine. From her sylladex, she produced a pitcher and four plastic champagne flutes, which she arranged before mixing ingredients with practiced ease in the pitcher and then pouring a mimosa for Dirk. “And your apology is noted and accepted. Like, in advance.”

Dirk lifted his chin, but accepted the drink. He didn’t say anything, but his thick brows popped up from behind his shades when he tasted it, and the smile that spread across Roxy’s face was so smug, Dirk had to turn away to continue enjoying it in peace, shoulders raised like some beast jealously guarding a piece of meat. Now that Jane had completed her journey through every stage of grief and had calmed down enough to enjoy these antics, she gave a soft giggle that drew Dirk’s attention to her.

“Don’t give back the towel,” he intoned, looking very serious while delicately gripping the stem of his plastic champagne flute.

“I can’t _not_ give back the towel!” Jane insisted, frowning back up forlornly. She couldn’t keep it, and she couldn’t give it back. She was up against a wall.

“Don’t give back the towel,” Dirk repeated, and after a long sip where he finished his mimosa, added “If he wants it, he’ll have to engage. You can make him come to you and ask for what he wants.”

“Aside from the whole creep factor, that’s not a bad plan!” Roxy said, nodding only a little bit hesitantly. Her phone buzzed, and she took it out. She bowed her head and began to type, but didn’t let that stop her talking. “You’ll be all doing stretches and he’ll walk up like ‘Yes, horse-lo, I would like to receive my towel back’ and you can be like ‘towel this!!!’ and flex all sexy. He’ll be so into it his boner’ll hit him in the face.”

Jane shrieked Roxy’s name, completely scandalized. Dirk tisked and set his empty plastic glass aside. “You can’t just talk about a person’s crush having a potentially massive dick right to her face.”

“Nothing wrong with a little bit of blanket hornpipe talk between friends,” Jake said cheerfully. “Though that _was_ a tad blue.”

“Jane could be a tad blue if she played her cards right,” Roxy murmured, popping a piece of cubed fruit into her mouth. Dirk stole the mimosa that had been waiting for Jake, and used taking a sip of it to hide the almost-snicker that comment wrestled out of him. Jake laughed openly on his way back over to the table, placing the platter of skewers packed haphazardly with thick chunks of fragrant, well spiced vegetables between a covered container of rice and a lidded gravy boat. He nudged a bag of hamburger buns away from the metal.

“We are not talking about any frisky business anymore!” Jane cried head in her hands. “This portion of the conversation is over!”

“Right, right. Perfectly fair,” Jake said, and made an effort to change the subject while Roxy continued to fiddle with her phone. “I _have_ had an idle thought bumbling around my noggin, but I figured it would be best for all parties involved for me to ask you lot before making any hasty decisions on my own. How do you all feel about me inviting Tavros to one of our little get togethers?”

“Oh, no. No-no-no-no. Brunch Bonanza Bwednesdays are fuckin’ sacrosanct.” And didn’t exclusively center around brunch, as the name might imply. Dirk jabbed at the wrought iron table with a gloved hand as he continued. It might have looked a little intimidating if it weren’t for the mimosa in his other hand, but knowing Dirk, that might have been calculated for laughs. “If we start handing out invites to everybody one of us is macking on, this whole deal is gonna transform real fast from chill bro gathering to outright liquid ass.”

“Tell me how you really feel, Strider,” Jake replied, both amused and unphased.

“I’m just saying, you can go on dates with him any time you want-- this is the only time all of us sync up for the requisite amount of time to do what we do here.”

“Devil-fucking- _dickens,_ man, I’m not dating Tavros!” Jake cried incredulously.

Dirk turned to face Jake, leaning against the table and finishing his mimosa. “Can’t help but notice you didn’t protest when I suggested you were mackin’ on him.”

“Speaking of dating, Janey,” Roxy interrupted their conversation loudly, “is that what you wanna do? Like, are you interested in Horuss romantic-ways or..?”

Jake disappeared inside the house, and Dirk crossed one leg over the other, facing the direction of the glass back doors Jake had gone through. Jane slowly looked away from the almost-spectacle to Roxy, who had finally set her phone down and was now looking Jane in the eye. Jane tucked a lock of her short hair behind one ear, ducking her head a little. Dating Horuss… they already spent so much time together it would be a little redundant, wouldn’t it? She would almost rather not ask at all, if it might put their friendship in jeopardy.

Her voice was soft. “I do find him charming. He dresses very smartly when he isn’t in his workout clothes, and the way he talks about the things he likes… it makes me interested, too. He makes me feel good about myself.”

She laughed quietly, and then a little louder when she found herself embarrassed. Jake reappeared with a pan of fat shiitake mushrooms, which he plopped onto the grill and began seasoning. Dirk seemed too busy loading up a paper plate to pay him any attention. Roxy rolled her eyes at them and gently bumped shoulders with Jane, her own smile a gentle reflection of Jane’s.

“So yeah? You’d wanna date him if you could?”

“Yes, I do think so.” Dirk stared down at his plate and heaved a quiet sigh before climbing to his feet and going to help Jake with what he was doing. Jake, unconsciously mimicking Roxy, gently bumped shoulders with him before he passed Dirk the tongs he was using. Dirk poked at the mushrooms with them.

Roxy meanwhile had was wiggling with delight. She scooped her phone back up, thumbs flying while her soft little smile bloomed into an almost manic grin. “Perfect.”

“Perfect?” Jane tried to steal a stealthy peek at Roxy’s phone, but she snatched it out of the way, immediately wise to Jane’s game. Jane gasped. “Just who are you messaging?”

“C’mon Janey,” Roxy laughed. “You _know_ who I’m messaging.”

There was a moment of stillness between them, and then a frenzy of action as Jane tried only half-heartedly to steal Roxy’s phone away and Roxy went to pains to keep it out of her reach.

“Wait, wait!” Roxy called through her laughter. “I’ll show you, just hold on!”

Jane harrumphed and crossed her arms, all pout and no malice as she glared at Roxy. Roxy, true to her word, held out her phone so that the conversation she’d been having with Horuss was plain to read on the screen.

TG: so what if she LIKE liked you  
CT: 8=D < Making such a dischoofery would fill me with unbridled joy!  
TG: then prepare to get unbridled!!  
CT: 8=D < How certain are you?  
TG: just asked. you coulda tried that yourself waaaaay before now. you really gotta step it up, my guy.  
CT: 8=D < You’re utterly, and completely correct. I’ve been a f**l. I don’t know how I’ll make it up to her.  
TG: ask her out on a date, dummy!  
TG: also, she likes daffodils. ;)

Jane’s heart beat fast, and the number of butterflies in her stomach were frankly outrageous. She looked at Roxy, eyes large and face hot.

“Love youuu~,” Roxy sang, clearly quite pleased with herself. “Now that that’s out of the way… Hey, Jake! _What’s_ up with you and Tavvie?”


End file.
